i'm don lemon. want to get you up the speed on the stories making headlines this hour. >> all the way to the rear. jump away. >> that guy is the closest thing to superman that we got. international dare devil jumped from a balloon today on the edge of space. he plummeted to earth breaking the sound barrier on the way down. nobody's ever done that and nobody's ridden a balloon 24 miles above the earth. he parachuted down safely.

lots of records smashed today. we'll show you a whole lot more of the jump ahead this hour. breaking the sound barrier no big deal for this man. he did it first back in 1947. chuck yeager did something appropriate. he broke the sound barrier again riding in the backseat of an f-15 fighter jet. there's more. i'll talk to him about it live. the meningitis outbreak continues to spread. the cdc says these two strains of fungus are part of the outbreak that infected six more people. overall 205 cases have been confirmed. 15 people have died. the victims received tainted steroid injections. just ahead we're talking with a family that is grieving. the grandfather is one of those who has died during this

outbreak. the state's work is well under way for tuesday's presidential debate. president obama and mitt romney will square off in a town hall style format. candy crowley is the moderator. we'll have more on that straight ahead. america had lost one of the giants of the u.s. senate. pennsylvania senator arlen specter died today. he represented longer than anyone in the state's history. he was 82 years old. a side of the senator you haven't seen before, stand up comedian. a wounded teenage activist who stood up to the taliban inspired a huge rally. tens of thousands of people gathered to support the 14-year-old who blogged about the right of girls to get an education. al taliban members tried to

assassinate here on tuesday but she's in stable condition. the mosque has extensive damage after the army set fire to it. parts date back to the 12th century. opposition forces say another 220 people had been killed across syria. the space shuttle endevour once soared 123 miles into space. it finally arrived at the california center after crawling across l.a. over three days. just 23 days until the election and the presidential candidates are hard to find. we barely got a glimpse of them. they are getting ready for tuesday's debate. mark preston is on site at the

university. my question is does president obama still have some work to do on tuesday. >> reporter: he does. he has some game changing to do. he had a very lackluster debate two weeks ago. his advisors say he will come with a different game plan. let's listen to what robert gibbs had to say. >> he knew when he walked off the stage and he also knew as he watched the tape of that debate that he's got to be more energetic. i think you'll see somebody who is very passionate about the choice our country faces and putting that choice in front of voters. >> reporter: a senior advisor for mitt romney says it comes down a choice for which way the country, what direction it's going to go into. >> the president can't change his record or policies and that's what this election is about. >> reporter: we have a few weeks

until election day. the race the tight not only nationally but in the key battleground states. mitt romney has made up quite a bit of ground since his first debate. a lot of people waiting to see what happens on the stage right behind me. >> thank you very much. candy crowley is host of cnn state of the union. she's also the moderator of tuesday's presidential debate. it's a true honor for a very deserving journalist. she had some interesting things to say about how she is preparing for the debate. >> it's interesting. i'm not sure if having interviewed both of them changes how i would approach either of them. i think it's more that i interviewed both of them. i've interviewed presidents and candidates, there's an ease there. neither one of them scare me in that sense. it is that we are having this other element of the town hall. the mixture of all of that and

trying to keep that under control and on target and letting the people's voice from the town hall meeting come through. that's the sort of thing that keeps me awake at night. i am hoping that the 25 years that i've covered politics has prepared me and given me the base for this. however, from the minute i knew that i was going to do this things have become more embedded in my memory. day-to-day when you're doing a story you think that's interesting and you kind of move on to the next thing. with this, you want to make sure that you're in on the campaign dialogue and in on the policy debate and that you know when they move. campaigns don't move sort of minute by minute. they move incrementally over the months and you have to watch it. i'm much more, i think, tuned

in. >> presidential contenders square off tuesday night in our special coverage. special live coverage will begin here at 7:00 p.m. a grandfather goes to the doctor in pain. he's given a steroid injection and now he's dead. likely because of this. we have an exclusive with a heartbroken family. falling to earth and landing in history. a record setting sky dive from 24 miles above ground. the pictures are incredible to see. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a reason...to look twice. introducing a stunning work of technology -- the entirely new lexus es. and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work?

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a kentucky grandfather got a steroid injection to relieve pain and now he's dead. he was healthy. walked three miles a day, taught sunday school and worked as a judge. elizabeth cohen talked with his heartbroken family. >> lord give us the strength to go forward. >> reporter: something's missing many the lovelace house. five generations gather in mourning. >> i lost all i've got. >> reporter: eddie lovelace, husband, father, grandfather, great grand father dead. a suspected case of fun gal meningitis. >> what do you miss? >> he was the center of our

universe as a family. >> reporter: judge eddie lovelace was a healthy 78-year-old man. worked full-time. walked three miles a day. in the middle of september he started feeling dizzy and slurring his speech. >> he didn't get to finish his sunday school lesson and that individual was a long time member. he said he never witnessed that happen before. >> he was in the kitchen and said my legs don't work right. he said there's something wrong with my legs. >> reporter: he had a stroke. doctors told his daughter, a nurse, it was one of the strangest strokes they'd seen. >> they couldn't give me any explanation. they told me that a stroke occurred in this area of the brain was usually seen by prolonged uncontrolled hyper tension which he did not have. >> reporter: lovelace died five days after being admitted to the

hospital. >> it was a nightmare. >> reporter: later the doctors put it together. he had been in car accident and received three injections of steroids. the medicine was made by the new england compoundsing center. after his death the injections were recalled because of fungal contamination that can cause strokes. >> what kind of man was your dad? >> he was the most intelligent man that i ever met. his memory was uncanny. if you needed advice of what the subject was you could always take his and trust it. >> reporter: his family looks back and asks why. >> the decisions to save money. the decisions not to regulate

drugs, decisions not to oversee these facilities. those decisions affect lives every day. if different decisions had been made at certain points along the way, my father would be here today. >> your father went in for a routine procedure. >> he did. he went there for pain relief. he went there to get help. >> and he got? >> death. >> thanks. arlen specter died today. 70. ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge,

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romney, round two. why will this one be different than any first one? the town hall format will be a better venue for president

obama. i asked him why. >> because he'll be able to have the audience there to gauge. he'll be able to understand about the energy level that he has. he'll be able to understand the way he answers the questions has a more immediate impact. >> it's like a performer. he can vibe off the audience. do you agree with that? >> i do. i was reading a review of the 2008 town hall debate and here are the words they used to describe it. it was dispassionate. i don't know how high his bar is on getting up his energy. the town hall format lowers the bar. the confrontational aspect becomes more sensitive. i don't think they like head to head as much. >> that was tom brokaw's debate.

he talked about that this morning and he said it was very tough. he said something like my condolences to candy because it was a tough debate to do. let's talk about joe biden. let's go pack to last week's debate. we knew saturday night live would have some fun and it didn't disappoint. take a look. >> first of all, i want to thank center college for hosting us this evening. >> oh, boy. here we go. oh, man. >> four years ago president obama made a promise that he would bring down unemployment below 6%. >> this guy. >> that's funny. they were dead on. do you think this is going to be old news by tuesday, lz? >> well it's old news now. once you've been snl' ed it's pretty much out of the news cycle. >> sarah palin and tina fey you

can't get enough of that. i still watch the clips. >> i mean in terms of way people int view the debate. >> i totally disagree. i know you didn't want to ask me this, don. you said it just now. we used to view debates through the prism of when they happen. now we have this internet. you're kidding yourself if you don't think that parity doesn't impact how people view this. >> good or bad, guess who people are talking about. they are talking about joe biden. there are people who thought he was sort of a characterture of himself. listen. >> the fact of the matter is he dominated him.

people can talk about joe biden, but what i think people like about him is he's authentic. the one thing about joe biden is you believed what he was telling you. the only thing we really now about mitt romney is unchanging is he wants to be president of the united states of america. >> the criticism of this guy, when you said he was rude. i don't understand that. as long as he didn't talk about -- >> really? >> he didn't call them out of their name, talk about that mother. that's what people do when they are having a conversation whether it's someone on the right or left. mitt romney was very aggressive in the presidential debate and some people said it was bordering on rude. he won that debate. you may think that joe biden was rude but that's all part of the process. what's wrong with that when you're in a debate? >> people are rude. you drew a correlation of how people are in real life and people are rude in real life. that's not necessarily a net positive.

i will say this. the opinion from meet the press, joe biden did dominate the debate. he motivated the left and right. how that rudeness might have played off with independents. i want to say one more thing that we might be confused about what the word authentic means. i believe he is. i'll see the same guy i saw in that debate. that doesn't mean unimpeachable. authentic and truthful are not interchangeable. they believe he is that guy. that doesn't mean they believe everything he said. arlen specter has died. he had overcome several serious i' illnesses. he was 82 years old.

earlier i spoke with someone who worked closely with him for many years. >> he's somebody who was principled and one of the smartest people out there in terms of knowing constitutional law. he never in the entire time that while i was working with him and before and after that, i've never heard of him reading a speech on the senate floor. he always spoke from a few notes. he did the same thing when he was chairing and normally chairman will have a big opening statement. he would do that. it was off the cuff but it was with a lot of preparation. he didn't want to be known as somebody scripted. he's very proud of the fact he worked on his own statements. a lot of people don't know he was behind closed doors as well as in public one of the funniest people you'd ever come across. >> coming up, senator arlen specter was known for being a

fighter but he did have a softer side. later on a different side of a long time senator. i'm probably tell you something you know. zombies are everywhere. i'll talk to one of guys you can blame this on. that's next. >> you can stay connected and do it on your cell phone or computer at work. we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy -- and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country.

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it may be farfetched but don't call this fiction. zombies have taken over our world. the walking dead has returned for a third season. if you're following my twitter feed you know i'm obsessed. it's even in the political arena. nancy pelosi's challenger released this ad. . what about the road sign

hackings that are becoming so common in cities across the country. warning, zombies ahead. i talked about this with max brooks, son of mel brooks about the fascination of zombies and the people who study them. >> they're big. they are a megaproblem. it's not like one werewolf you can run away from. they are pandemic, so to speak. we've been facing since 9/11 just one massive global problem after the other. that's sort of on everybody's brain right now. >> how did the 1968 film resurrect the interest in zombies? >> that changed everything. they used to be the haitian voodoo zombies.

>> the cdc has jumped on board warning people to be prepared for the zombie apocalypse. why do this? >> it's very smart. it's getting kids prepared for natural disasters. they're tricking kids into being prepared for anything. >> i've told you in the commercial break that i went to the set of the walking dead. they wouldn't make me a zombie. i don't think you'll make me one. i know your books world war z is being made into a movie starring brad pitt. it's required reading for several colleges including the u.s. naval war college.

my question is why do college students need to be aware? >> i think because zombies are a global problem. it's a great way of exploring globalization, which is a dirty word in a country like the united states. for the first time you have college students talking about global problems in an exciting way. it's not boring economics or global trade. it's talking about zombies. it's a great way of studying all these global problems in an entertaining fun way. >> can you help me out? >> don, i went to the set of world war z, i couldn't get made up into a zombie. good luck to us both. >> there's actually a facebook page with a petition. i'll send it to your folks as well. i have to ask you another funny question. why do they move so slow in are there any fast zombies that can

catch you? >> yeah. there's been the fast zombie craze since the movie "28 days later." i like the slow ones does a it gives me time to think about how many ways i can die. it's like the tortous an the hair but this time the hair gets eaten. >> give us some tips so survive. >> the main one is take a deep breath and think. don't panic. your brain is your greatest weapon. you can't do any of that if you're completely submerged in panic. thank you very much. talk about your leap of faith. a jump from 24 miles up. it's amazing and takes your breath away. we've got it for you, next. invg you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts.

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half past the hour. let's take a look at the headlines. a meningitis outbreak continues to spread. these two strains of fungus are part of the outbreak. 15 people have died. victims received tainted steroid injections given to relieve intense neck and back pain. they are working on the stage for tuesday night's presidential debate.

this time it's a town hall format. president obama's aid say he will be ready and energized. america has lost one of the giants of the u.s. senate. arlen specter died today after a long battle with cancer. specter represented pennsylvania in the senate for 30 years. president obama said specter was fiercely independent never puttiput ing party ahead of the people he was chosen to serve. arlen specter was 82 years old. just ahead this hour, a side of the former senator you may not have seen before, stand up comedian. the space shuttle endevour once soared 123 million miles through space. endevour finally arrived at the california science center after a 12 mile trip across l.a. over

three days. a dedicated dare devil achieved an amazing fete today. here is brian todd with the story. >> reporter: with a heart pounding hop, felix baumgartner makes history. he's 24 miles up, higher than anyone before him. >> starting spinning. it spun me around and i was trying to find out how to stop this. i was putting one arm out. it didn't work. you're always late because when you travel at that speed with that suit, you don't feel the air. >> reporter: in those first seconds he broke another record. no one has gone through the sound barrier outside a vehicle. baumgartner reached a speed of more than 700 miles an hour,

well past the speed of sound. free fall lasted 4:19. after he safely touched down, the man known as fearless felix was hailed as an aerospace p pioneer. >> it's so many emotions now. you're sitting there and you thought about that moment so many times. how it would feel and look like. this is bigger than i anticipated. >> reporter: this mission had been five years in the planning. in his year colonel joe. i interviewed them together earlier together this year. >> are you jealous of felix that he's going to break your record? >> no. i'm delighted. i'm delighted he's going to do it. he's advancing science, and he'll do a great job.

>> reporter: they're hoping this jump will show them if astronauts or high altitude pilots can survive any time outside a vehicle if there's a malfunction. his high pressure suit could be the next generation suit for future mixes. what will he do next? he says he wants to pursue an occupation as a yehelicopter rescue pilot. might be a bit of a letdown. >> the granddaddy of all aviation record breakers made a little news today. major general chuck yeager broke the sound barrier again at 89. we'll talk to him, next. ♪ ♪ ♪

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tonight, we have been talking about man who set a few new altitude and speed records. we wouldn't have known much about the sound barrier and could it be broken were it not for this man. chuck yeager. it was on this day in 1947 that he achieved the most important aviation milestone, period. he flew an experimental airplane so fast that it broke the sound barrier. it was the first human being to go that fast. today in the skies over las vegas, he did it again. he broke the sound barrier.

he's now 89 years old. we're privileged to speak with him right now from his home in las vegas. happy anniversary on your historic achievement. were you at the controls today when you broke the sound barrier again? general yeager is not there. we're going to get the connection and we'll be back after this break. the beginning. ♪ ♪ introducing a stunning work of technology. ♪ introducing the entirely new lexus es. and the first ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. [ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneur's dream... ♪

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good news. we've reestablished contact with general chuck yeager. we'll bring it to you shortly. a young jewish man got a letter saying he flunked out of dental school. the school he worked to hard to attend emory university forced him out because he's jewish. it took 60 years to get an apology. i talked with him and began by playing a clip from his documentary. >> we got that dreaded letter and more likely than not our parents would say, what have you done to me. when you began to try to explain what happened, nobody believed you. they just didn't believe that's impossible. emory. >> my goodness.

he joins us now. discrimination didn't stop him. he graduated with honors from the university of tennessee dental school and a very successful career. thank you very much. you went back and interviewed fellow students decades after the discrimination. what motivated you to do that? >> i had retired two years before. the year was 2006. we attended a conference at emory university where they were celebrated 30 years since the first studies had happened at emory. it was a great moment. since that time they had many more jewish faculty members. >> when i introduced you you said when you got the letter you knew you hadn't failed but you weren't so sure. >> no and not just me. you didn't know. you got letter and it said you

could come back and repeat or you were out. in my case i couldn't return. there were four jewish boys in my class and within two years we were gone. the dean didn't call me. none of the instructors took me to the side. i've carved all my teeth. you should have seen some of the things. they break your teeth and throw them out the window. i didn't have a rough time. it was a shock. when i got home the worst thing was having to tell my parents. >> emory apologized to you and other jewish students. listen to the apology. >> i am sorry, we are sorry. >> how do you feel about it? >> i feel great. emory has been incredible. i spent a long time, maybe four

years getting all my documentation. i learn how to make movies, i movies. i came up with a movie and took it to emory and they were shocked. they said this is not emory. i said i know but it was. they said we have to do something about this. >> do you have advice for anyone that feels discriminated against. there was a guest on earlier and he had kids with him. my parents said that's the way it was. i wonder what things we'll be saying to younger people about that's the way it was and they'll go what were you thinking. what advice do you have? >> things are different now. students speak up. we couldn't speak up. my father tried to get the dean to revisit this. he wouldn't even see them. others were treated very bad.

it was a one sided thing. you didn't have any option to do. now kids have advisors. they don't take anything. >> you said they've been great and you've been on the campus many times. >> i've been there many times. i never let them define me. i had been accepted to tennessee and i just chose emory because i had gone there undergraduate and they treated me great before. i went over there. the dean put his hand on my shoulder and he said you're going to do all right. i had my grades from before. i showed him my carvings. >> it happened and you move on. thank you. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> really appreciate it. mpblt it was on this day, october 14th, 1947 that chuck

yeager flew an airplane so fast it broke the sound barrier. he's on his phone in las vegas. happy anniversary. how do you feel? >> fine. thank you very much. >> wrp yere you at the controls? >> it's not my airplane. i was lucky they would give me one but make sure there was an instructor pilot in the front seat. i fly from front seat but it's not my airplane. >> 89 years old. that's so cool that you're doing that. 65 years later, did today's flight feel any different than the thousands of flights you'd flown before. >> it was fun for me.

i went down to edwards which is 170 miles away and made the sonic boom. that laid down a pretty dpood sonic boom and then i came back and made a little pass over the runway and landed. i really appreciate the air force giving me a brand new f-15 to fly. >> do you get a kick out of that every time? >> yeah. you control it by mach number. the f-15 we had to keep it about 1.4 mach. that lays down a pretty good boom. if you want to go up to two, you start breaking dpla ining glass knocking in roofs. >> talk to me about flying and being at the controls.

this is a more modern plane than last time. how do you compare flying this to when you first did it in 1947. >> first one was a rocket. it had to be dropped from a v-29. it was a research airplane. you couldn't use it for combat or something like that. what it did, it shows us if we're going to operate beyond the speed of sound shs we have to have a flying tail on the airplane. that's the only way to control the airplane was with the flying tail. it took the british and the french and soviet union five years to find out that truck.

>> thank you, sir. congratulations to you. we're so proud of you. 89 years old, and you're still at it. tell your wife we said hello. >> hello back. thank you. >> thanks a lot. sorry we had so much trouble getting you. >> that's all right. it's television. we're honored to have you both on. >> where are you from? >> i'm from here. when you do it again in another 65 years make sure you come back on. >> sure. >> take care. we'll be right back. the capital one cash rewards card

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he was known for his sharp legal mind but did you know arlen specter wanted to do stand up. >> we're so excited to have this next man here. he was a senator for 30 years. round of applause for senator arlen specter. >> reporter: this is not the arlen specter america came to know. >> i've been in the senate for 30 years practicing comedy. >> reporter: it was the man arlen specter was becoming. >> let's go in your office. this is a comedy session. we're going to develop some material here. >> reporter: after losing his seat in the senate arlen specter at the age of 80 was aiming to become a stand up comic. >> now you're embarking on the stand up comedy career. >> reporter: earlier this year he and i spent time together as

he prepared for his next performance. >> arlen specter's funny. what do you say to those people? >> i say there's something funny in almost everything. >> reporter: specter really does see something funny in everything. >> morning. how are you? >> reporter: our dr. sanjay gupta got a taste of it four years ago when specter was battling cancer for the second time. >> you're going to lose some of your hair. >> i'm going to lose all of my hair. >> reporter: he liked to quote churchhill to describe his approach to life. never give in. >> how are you feeling? what's bugging you today? >> headache. i was up at 4:00 and couldn't sleep. got my squash partners out at 5:30. >> reporter: anyone that can

play squash during a chemo headache cannot be dismissed when he wants to do stand up. >> we're going to go over the material. >> these are possibilities. >> when i was recuperating from hodgkins doctors told me to spend time in a hot tub. i was in this hot tub and then comes ted kennedy, 283 pounds in his finest, his birthday suit. he plops into the hot tub and you know the old story about rising tidal. my head hit the ceiling. newt gingrich, i've known him a long time. i've known him so long i knew him when he was skinny. i've known newt so long i knew

his first wife. thurman said in his deep accent, we have sex almost every night. we almost have sex on monday. we almost have sex on tuesday. i don't know if this is fit for cnn. reminds me of a comment about malcolm. he was a senator from wyoming. >> in the future when i say remind me, it means i don't have a clue. >> i thought you knew everything and made that comment to inform the audience. joe biden is a good target for humor because he talks so much. there's a picture of joe biden and me over here. you know how much it cost to buy a seat in the united states senate. $30 million. when you pay $30 mltd3$30 milli

seat you like to sit in it. >> reporter: he studies his comedy performances with a critical eye taking careful notes on which punch lines work and which fell flat. >> you're clearly tuned into a audience because you were pausing. >> when you pause they laugh. the last time they laugh. sometimes they laugh automatically. >> reporter: in the end between his long senate career and his short but determined effort at stand up comedy and his multiple battles with life threatening illness, he demonstrated a few things about power. the power of sitting down, the power of standing up, and the power of never giving in. >> arlen specter died today after a long battle with